Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
His uncle seemed to consider it. “That’s an astute observation. Let’s see where this goes.”
“Has anyone considered the fact that our whispering man thinks someone is close to this bombmaker?” Lou asked. She bit her bottom lip. “He accuses Huber of getting the wrong guy. I think we have to consider that someone is setting up TJ in order to cover their own tracks.”
“And that would mean it’s someone close,” his mother mused. “Maybe someone on his team or someone close to his team.”
“Or someone close to our team,” Lou said quietly. “I don’t like the fact that someone was wearing a coat Erin bought for Zach in that picture. I worry they might be trying to set up more than TJ.”
His uncle groaned. “Shit. Zach… There’s a lot you don’t know about Zach. I can’t talk about it right now, but he has some connections that have always worried me.”
TJ shook his head. “Zach wouldn’t do this.”
“I don’t think so, either, but I have to consider that someone might be setting him up too, and for entirely different reasons,” his uncle said. “I need to talk to Drake and do some research. Until then, you two stick together and watch yourselves until I get the Canadian back on a plane. Send me what you have and I’ll try to figure out if I can trust MI6 with it.” He stood and turned to TJ. “But you need to be ready to run if the time comes. If I lose control, they might try to take you into custody. The actual authorities will mean to question you, but…”
His uncle left the threat dangling. But in a holding cell, anything could happen. They’d already talked about getting rid of him once. If they thought he knew something and might talk, they would get rid of him fast.
All of this reeked of an inside job. Things were starting to happen around him, puzzle pieces flying about, waiting to be put together.
“I’ll go wherever you tell me to.” He wasn’t going to put any of them in danger.
Even if it meant leaving Lou.
“I’ll get everything to you,” Lou promised. “And I’ll work the logistics in case TJ needs a safe house.
“I’ll be careful until we figure out what’s going on,” TJ promised. “And by we, I mean Lou. I’ll be here getting her lattes and making sure she eats.”
And relaxed.
“Then she’s in good hands,” his uncle said. “Come on, brother. Let’s get a couple of beers and let the kids handle this part. Theo, you can come, too.”
His father snorted but he followed his uncle out, and after his mother hugged them both soundly, he was left alone with Lou.
She stared up at him as though memorizing his face. “You might have to run.”
“It won’t happen,” he promised. “We’re going to figure this out. I still think this is all one big hoax. I’m not saying there couldn’t be a military contact to the bombmaker, but that doesn’t mean someone’s not fucking with me.”
She shook her head as though she knew what he was about to say. “It’s not Dennis.”
“It could be Dennis.” He wanted it to be Dennis. Real bad.
She sighed and leaned against him. “I’m going to prove to you it’s not Dennis.”
“How are you going to do that?” He kissed her hair and reveled in how close she was.
“We’re going to a reunion,” she announced.
He was sure that was going to be fun.
In an awful way.
Chapter Eighteen
“We’re doing this, why?” Kala asked as they walked down the street toward the little bar in the middle of Deep Ellum. “Did we want to practice dodging bullets or drunk frat guys?”
Lou kept walking, though her bestie was right. It could be either. This wasn’t the best part of town, but it also wasn’t the weekend, and when she’d texted Dennis to ask where the group was meeting yesterday afternoon, he’d quickly sent her this address.
Along with a flurry of emojis that had made the veins in TJ’s neck stand out. To his credit, he hadn’t complained, merely tied her up and forced a plug up her ass and blown her mind in ways that had Kenzie and Kala calling a house meeting about loud sex.
TJ had been all about the plug the last couple of days. Just this morning he’d convinced her to sit through a whole meeting with the team with a small butt plug lodged in her even smaller rectum. While she’d listened to Kenzie discuss why Ben Parker couldn’t possibly be a bad guy and Tasha talk about why her fiancé shouldn’t be used to gather intel, she’d fought the urge to squirm.
And the urge to tell everyone that if TJ had to go on the run, she was going with him. Because she was. She’d spent the last day and a half sitting with the decision.